Yes, I know - another shameless plug. Several people expressed interests in these types of stories so I thought that I would add it to the other shameless plugs that I have placed on Marmot’s (hope he forgives me).
I think many people would be interested in knowing that it was not the tiger that was the most dangerous to the Korean population - it was the wolf that claimed more victims. A table showing the victims of wild animals in 1928 gives a pretty good picture of how vicious they were in comparison to the other top-five predators:
Predator…………….Human Victims……………..Cattle Lost
Tiger………………………1…………………………………103
Leopards………………..3…………………………………272
Bears…………………….0…………………………………..26
Wolves…………………48……………………………….3,396
Boars……………………..4………………………………….33
Here is the rest of the article:
31 Comments
OhMyNews is blocked from where I’m at, but I wonder what the ratio of predators to victims is? For example, were there 2 tigers and 10,000 wolves?
Also, edit this comment for the code for this table;
Predator
Human Victims
Cattle Lost
Tiger
1
103
Leopards
3
272
Bears
0
26
Wolves
48
3,396
Boars
4
33
Looks like the table doesn’t work well in comments, but should in the body of a WP post.
Woah, 4 people fell prey to wild boar?
Wolves getting even with Koreans eating dogs.
This is typical of the research errors made by orientalisizing scholars. I think you will find the data refers to endangered animals eaten by humans over the given time period. Rabbits, frogs, and sanakes dont make a mention becauise they were too numerous. Siberian Huskies and St Bernards had not been introduced to Korea by that date, so they too are not on the list .
dlatn,
You lost me there. There were no “endangered” animals in 1928, only vermin. In any case, if this were actually a report on folks eating critters, boars would be much higher on the list.
Fascinating again, Robert. Korea, with all its mountains, must have been chock-full of wild critters.
Where did all the critters go? The shocking thing to me is the relative paucity of wild animals in Korea compared to the handful of others places I’ve lived.
what? ohmynews is blocked?
I thought ohmynews was expanding world wide from Korea.
You, TOO, can be a reporter…
Sewing, wild boars are nothing to laugh at. Three hundred pounds of samgyeopsal with some healthy, razor sharp tusks can do some real damage.
all dogs descinded from wolves!!! yeah tell that to my cocker spaniel who is afraid of anything that moves!!!
#2
railwaycharm your flag
Posted May 7, 2007 at 7:36 am | Permalink
Wolves used to be the biggest threat. Tigers and Leopards were more reclusive. Early pictures suggest that they used to stalk the city just outside the wall, not true. They were hunted.
Predator: Man
Victims: Korean wildlife
Driven to extinction in South Korea: Tiger, Wolf, Leopard
I am sure some netizens will blame the Japanese and Americans for the loss of wildlife in Korea due to heavy hunting and bombing during the war.
Ask yourself…What cattle could be killed by a boar? Pigmy goat?
Railwaycharm, you’re thinking like a foreigner again. You’re overlooking the most important fact.
These were no mere boars. They were Korean boars.
Therefore, you must understand that this is a unique situation.
Ut, You are right! What was I thinking?????
I know this is an awful thing to write, but a silver lining to the absence of large wild animals in South Korea is that we human predators can hike deep in the mountains without fear of being attacked by a bear, tiger, wolf, or wild boar. I wouldn’t want to venture very far into the wilderness of my own backyard here in British Columbia in the middle of summer (although lots of more adventurous people do), for fear of encountering a cougar or bear.
“I wouldn’t want to venture very far into the wilderness…for of encountering a cougar or bear.”
Okay, that’s it. BC can seperate from Canada for all I care. No self respectiong Canadian would ever utter those words.
What can I say? I’m too soft—a city boy born and bred. Every couple of years, there’s a news story of some guy or gal up on northern Vancouver Island or somewhere who wrestled a cougar to the ground. I marvel in awe.
Sewing, Part of my teenaged years were spent wandering the Northern Maine and New Brunswick woods. Yet two years ago, hiking around Ba Vi national park in North Vietnam, all I could think of was the “Tiger present” sign I’d seen at the park entry gate when the clouds closed down on our mountain hiking trail and it was like walking in a white tunnel. Brought back some old fears from 1968. My Vietnamese hiking compatriots were just as nervous.
Speaking of tigers: The bravest Japanese official in Colonial Korea - they poor fool who told Hong Bom-do and his guild of tiger hunters that they had to turn in all their rifles, because Koreans were no longer permitted to own firearms. He did not survive the encounter.
Hong Bom-do, early Korean Second Amendment Rights Activist, and later independence fighter:
http://www.kimsoft.com/2003/left-right05.htm
If you’re a fan of Kimsoft, Lirelou, you might enjoy reading the articles found in this link:
http://www.kimsoft.com/kr-mass.htm
> 17. sewing
> a silver lining to the absence of large wild animals
> in South Korea is that we human predators can hike deep
> in the mountains without fear of being attacked
An even better “silver lining” to that absence is that we can hike deep into the mountains and just scoop up & drink fresh spring/stream water without fear of getting animal-bourne parasites, as in the USA/Canada where all wilderness water has to be filtered/boiled… Thus we don’t have to carry so much… I’ve enjoyed guzzling Korea’s excellent mountain-water while hiking for many years, never gotten sick from it once.
Just a little off the subject…..my cousin was attacked by a cougar in Washington State a couple of years ago while hunting for turkeys. He fortunately shot the cougar before it actually clawed him.
As for the animals in Korea…I have no idea what the ratio for the animals versus victims were….I do know that there are accounts of packs of wolves entering into villages and forcing their way into homes and stealing children - must have been flimsy houses and doors. There are accounts of tigers entering small villages/cities in the extreme north and snatching ponies from the market. As for the leopards in Seoul - several accounts of them but prior to 1900. One leopard was in the German Legation’s grounds and forced the staff to flee.
As for boars - they were extremely feared and the Underwood family has their own stories of hunting these “samkyeopsal with tusks.”
It seems like I will have to do the article on the Humane Society in Korea - introduced in the early 1910s by mainly the wives of Westerners - there are a number of good accounts
Sonagi, I’ve critiqued his inability to collate his information before. But I take my hat off to him for putting so many useful documents on his site. Naturally, you have to sift and assess.
Lirelou (20): Just reading the story sent chills up my spine.
Lirelou (21): Great story!
Sanshinseon (23): Amen to that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone hiking in the (close-to-home, not-too-scary) mountains and found myself craving some mountain-fresh yaksu.
Oh, and Robert Neff, your wildlife/historical stories are always welcome, right up there with the Marmot’s architectural posts.
I don’t really read this blog for all the other stuff any more….
#24 the homes were made of straw. It was not until they made their houses of bricks that they no longer were blown down.
14 - I bet this bad boy could take out some cattle if he put his mind to it.
No doubt! Can you imagine how many bottles of Soju it would take to wash this guy down?
28, LOL.